EARExpander command

Use the EARExpander command to expand an enterprise archive file (EAR) into a directory to run the application in that EAR file.

We can collapse a directory containing application files into a single EAR file. We can type EARExpander with no arguments to learn more about its options.

See about where to run this command, see the Use command tools article.

 

Syntax

The command syntax is as follows:

EarExpander -ear earName -operationDir dirName -operation 
<expand | collapse> [-expansionFlags <all|war>]

 

Parameters

The following options are available for the EARExpander command:

-ear

Name of the input EAR file for the expand operation or the name of the output EAR file for the collapse operation.

-operationDir

Directory where the EAR file is expanded or specifies the directory from where files are collapsed.

-operation <expand | collapse>

The expand value expands an EAR file into a directory structure required by the WAS run time. The collapse value creates an EAR file from an expanded directory structure.

-expansionFlags <all | war>

(Optional) The all value expands all files from all of the modules. The war value only expands the files from Web archive file (WAR) modules.

 

Usage scenario

The following examples demonstrate correct syntax:

(Windows)

EARExpander -ear C:\WebSphere\AppServer\installableApps\DefaultApplication.ear 
-operationDir  C:\MyApps -operation expand -expansionFlags war
 EARExpander -ear C:\backup\DefaultApplication.ear 
-operationDir C:\MyAppsDefaultApplication.ear -operation collapse

[Linux] [AIX] [HP-UX] [Solaris]

EARExpander.sh -ear /WebSphere/AppServer/installableApps/DefaultApplication.ear 
-operationDir  /MyApps -operation expand -expansionFlags war
 EARExpander.sh -ear /backup/DefaultApplication.ear 
-operationDir /MyAppsDefaultApplication.ear -operation collapse

 

Return codes

The EARExpander command has the following return codes.

Table 1. Return codes and their descriptions

Return code	Description
-1	A syntax error exists.
0	The command ran successfully.
1	An error occurred.
2	An exception occurred.

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Related tasks

Use command line tools